Is 5.8 to low for soil ph

jdd616

Active Member
These are the issues im having and I just now checked the run off of my soil and it is 5.8. These are the problems I am having mainly with 1 plant and a little on another. If the ph in the soil is to low what can I do to correct it? Thanks guys...ps does this look like cal mag deficiency to you
 

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Mother's Finest

Well-Known Member
Single leaves don't tell much about the problem. Try to include whole plant pics, pics of the worst leaves on the plant, top pics and bottom pics for the best chance at a solid diagnosis. Judging from that leaf, it could be Ca &/or Mg deficient but probably needs Phosphorus as well.
 

Silky Shagsalot

Well-Known Member
more details about your grow would help too. hows your air circulation? looks a bit like rust. when you water/feed, do you allow any run-off? doing any flushes? a lot of folks do a feed-feed-flush routine in soil. when i was in soil, i just allowed for run-off like in coco. the ph of your run-off really doesn't help much. remember, when you test the run-off, your checking the built-up nutes that are being flushed out of the medium. you should never chase ph.
 

woodsmaneh!

Well-Known Member
Too low get it up to at least 6.2 to 7.0 you have lock up caused by low pH or an iron dif. my guess lock up from low ph.
 

djruiner

Well-Known Member
is 5.8 bad....it depends...if you using just water with no nutes...then your next watering your using a ph a round 6.2-6.5 with nutes your good...thats recreating nature.rain water has a ph of around 5.6-5.8....instead of going into full detail...check out riddleme's make it rain thread...will tell you in detail about leeching "flushing" then feeding.soil acts as a buffer..as long as when your feeding it your water is in the right range to uptake nutes..then your getting the most out of the nutes
 

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
Some dolomite lime added to your mix will take care of the pH and the cal/mag issues.

~$5 for a 40# bag at Lowes.

Wet
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Yeah man, time to bring it up, before it get's worse(and it will). Flushing it with water PH-ed at around 6.5(I like to use 6.5-6.8), until your runoff comes out the same as your pouring in, will effectively raise your soil PH, assuming you've been careful to flush it evenly, cleaning all the soil. I use 4 gallon pots, and have found that it takes 8-10 gallons of water to do this, although some recommend 3 times the pots volume. More won't hurt, if you choose that route. Also, I like to add 2 tbsp of dolomite lime, per gallon of water, to the last two gallons I pour through. That allows the lime to soak down through the medium, and hold the PH in check, for an extended period of time. I like to do it at the beginnng of 12/12, because then my PH will not be a problem, through flowering, where the magic is made.lol :wink:
 

Silky Shagsalot

Well-Known Member
Read the chart..LOL
i saw the chart years ago. it doesn't say what he fed/watered at. optimal for soil is 5.8. if he ph'd at that level, he'd be fine. as long as he flushed regularly, or allowed for sufficient run-off when adding feed/water. with ph, as long as you ph everything that goes in/on your plants, you should be good.
 

thegreensurfer

Well-Known Member
Yeah man, time to bring it up, before it get's worse(and it will). Flushing it with water PH-ed at around 6.5(I like to use 6.5-6.8), until your runoff comes out the same as your pouring in, will effectively raise your soil PH, assuming you've been careful to flush it evenly, cleaning all the soil. I use 4 gallon pots, and have found that it takes 8-10 gallons of water to do this, although some recommend 3 times the pots volume. More won't hurt, if you choose that route. Also, I like to add 2 tbsp of dolomite lime, per gallon of water, to the last two gallons I pour through. That allows the lime to soak down through the medium, and hold the PH in check, for an extended period of time. I like to do it at the beginnng of 12/12, because then my PH will not be a problem, through flowering, where the magic is made.lol :wink:
I totally agree with this.
Sprinkling on the top will take too long to work its way down.
Applying dissolved dolomite in the water is something not talked about much, I do it and it is very effective. Sometimes the amount of acidity in the peat is far too great to flush away. Especially when using RO water it can be wasteful.
 
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